


What Did I Miss?

by Akiko_Natsuko



Series: Gajevy [1]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Recovery, Survivor Guilt, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 12:45:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16661371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Akiko_Natsuko
Summary: Gajeel had accepted his fate. Accepted the price that he had to pay to save Levy, which was why he had never expected to wake up two years later, to find a future he had thought lost stretching out ahead of him.





	What Did I Miss?

  Fighting his way back towards consciousness felt a lot like wading through cotton candy, and he frowned. He had never been fond of waking up, and more than once Levy had been forced to barge into his room and drag him forcefully out of the bed when they had work. His frown deepened at the thought of his partner, something tugging at his thoughts. _Levy, something is wrong…Levy_. He couldn’t marshal his thoughts or memories into any kind of order, but he wasn’t about to ignore the uneasy feeling now churning in his stomach, and he renewed his efforts to wake up. _Levy. Where is Levy?_ Painfully slowly the world started to come back to him, odd smells and sounds coming to him as though from a great distance and he twitched as he caught a hint of lilies and parchment. Levy’s scent, and somehow he managed to coax his hand to twitch.

_Levy…_

   Warm fingers slipped into his, and he jolted slightly, a soft noise escaping as he weakly turned his head in the direction of the sensation. _Levy…_ He could vaguely make out her voice now, soft and encouraging and his nose twitched as he caught the smell of tears in the air. _Why are you crying?_ _Who made you cry?_ Anger at the thought that someone or something had made her cry, mixed with his concern and lent him the strength necessary to force his eyes open. The world around him was an indistinct blur of colours, the light hurting his head, but he refused to close them as he spotted a familiar blue in amongst the blur.

“Ugh…” That wasn’t what he had meant to say, but it was still enough to have the desired effect of the blue moving closer, and he blinked slowly as he tried to bring everything into focus. Wanting. No, needing to see her face, and he jolted when gentle fingers came up to brush against his cheeks.

“Gajeel,” she whispered, and he made a soft noise of acknowledgement, his vision finally beginning to clear and he blinked and blinked again, her face finally coming into view. _Levy._ Crimson eyes widened when he was finally able to make out the details of his face, his breath catching at the tears streaking down her cheeks. Tears that were in direct contrast to the joy and relief in her eyes. _What happened_? He had never seen that expression on her face before, and it left him feeling even more uneasy as he raised an uncoordinated hand, the motion taking all his strength so that he could clumsily wipe away her tears only to pause as he brushed against her hair. Hair which was longer than he could remember it, spilling down her back and his brow furrowed.

“What…?” He croaked, wincing as the words caught on his throat and she immediately shushed him, reaching for the glass of water on the bedside table. It was only when she slipped an arm under his head, elevating him enough to sip at it that he realised how badly she was trembling and he pulled away as soon as he felt he could get his voice to work, needing to know what the hell had happened. How she had changed so much because now that he was more awake, he could see that her hair wasn’t the only changes, and the shadow he could see lurking in her eyes scared him. “Levy, what happened?”

“What do you remember?” Apparently, she had resigned herself to answering his questions, setting the glass aside, but making no effort to slip out from under his shoulder and instead beginning to play with his hair. He scowled at the non-answer before trying to wrack his brain. _What happened_? Everything still felt muzzy, and he shifted fretfully as he tried to pull together the fragments that were slowly freeing themselves from his hazy mind. “Gajeel?” He shifted slightly, only to pause at the heaviness in his body and his eyes widened, nausea welling up as he was overrun by the memory of his body dissolving beneath him…

The War…Bradman…Leaving Levy behind…

“How…?” He had known that there was no way back, and he had accepted it. It was why he had begged Lily to stop Levy from chasing him. He had accepted that it was the price he had to pay to keep her safe. _So how was he here? How was he alive?_

“I pulled you out, but we had to put you into a stasis, similar to what the First was kept in,” Levy replied softly, and he fought the urge to growl at her. _How did you pull me out? Why did you pull me out?_ He fought back the questions, for the time being, knowing that he wouldn’t like the answers and not wanting to fight with her. Not when he had her back, and not when her hand was clasped around his, her other one running soothingly through his hair. “It was the only way to keep you alive.”

“The barrier particles?”

“We inserted a lacrima…” Levy admitted hesitantly, removing her hand from his hair and reaching out to brush against his side and he lifted his head enough to follow the gesture, noting the new scar with narrowed eyes before turning his gaze back to her. “It needs to be kept charged with Holy attribute magic, but it holds the particles at bay. As long as it stays charged, you’ll live a long life…” Her voice was wavering now, and he weakly squeezed her hand as fresh tears coursed down her cheeks, not sure what to make of the guilty expression that passed across her face. “It just took a while to get it to work…”

“How long?”

“Two years…” Levy whispered, a shudder passing through her as she pressed closer, and Gajeel choked at her words. Two years…she had stayed by him for two years? He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to assimilate that information with the last memories he had. How much had he missed? How much had changed…?

“What did I miss?” He asked uncertainly, not daring to open his eyes, and not entirely sure that he wanted to know the answer to that question. Two Years…they had been at war back then, and while he was hoping the fact that she was by his side and had been able to find a way to save him meant that it was over and Fairy Tail had won, he was scared to learn what such a victory might have cost him.

“A lot,” there was an odd note to the Solid Script mage’s voice that had him opening his eyes again, and he frowned as he caught the nervous expression on her face. Uneasy at the thought of what might have changed in that time, of what could have happened to put that kind of expression on her face, and he couldn’t hide his alarm.

“Levy?”

“Let Porlyusica look at you,” Levy said softly, tilting her head towards the door and he blinked as he turned to find the healer had appeared in the door before his gaze was drawn to the large figure behind her and a soft smile passed over his lips. “Lily…” His attention was drawn away from the Exceed as Levy carefully eased out from under him, still not sure of what to make of the expression on her face and panicking slightly when she released his hand and moved as though to step away from the bed. “Levy?!”

“I’ll be back,” she reassured him swiftly, her expression softening as she caught the panic in his eyes, and she hesitated for a brief moment before stepping closer and pressing her lips against his. It was far too brief, but it was everything that he remembered, and he felt some his panic easing when she pulled back and smiled softly at him. “There are some people you need to meet, so let Porlyusica check that you’re okay and I will be back as soon as you’re done. Okay?” Briefly, he wondered if she would stay if he begged, but there was something in her eyes when she mentioned these others that he needed to meet that made him swallow back the plea, instead giving a jerky nod of agreement. It was still hard not to reach for her as she headed for the door, Porlyusica sweeping past her, whilst Lily paused long enough to give her a quick hug before heading for Gajeel as well, and the last thing the Dragon-slayer saw before she slipped out of the room was the soft smile lighting up her features.

_Levy…_

****

  It had taken nearly an hour for the healer to pronounce that he was well and truly on the mend, although warning him that it would take time to regain his full strength and that they would need to wait until then to tell whether there was going to be a long-term effect on his magic. While she had examined him, Lily had taken the time to ream him out for being such a reckless idiot. Only stopping when the healer had threatened to boot him out, and he look in the Exceed’s eyes when he had reluctantly obeyed warned Gajeel that was a conversation they would be coming back to later. After that, the discussion had moved onto some of what he had missed over the last two years, although Lily had remained infuriatingly tight-lipped when it came to Levy, and the Dragon-slayer found himself frequently glancing at the door, straining his ears for any sound of her returning.

   However, it hadn’t taken long for him to be distracted by the news of what he had missed, and what they had lost. He had known that there was no way he would have been the only casualty. But that didn’t mean he was ready to hear the actual cost of the war that none of them had been remotely prepared for. Tears in his eyes as he learned how many across Fiore had been lost to the war, and there was no hiding his shock when Lily told him the true identity of E.N.D or that Natsu had sacrificed himself in the end to stop Zeref. That Makarov had passed away the year after the war had ended, grief and age finally catching up with him, while Erza still bearing the wounds of her own battles had taken his place after Laxus had refused the position. How Wendy, someone he had always considered a little sister, had left Fairy Tail after the war, her leg permanently damaged and guilt weighing her down over what Chelia had done for her.

   There was other, happier news as well, although Gajeel found it hard to focus on those bits, wondering whether his actions back then had contributed to those losses. Whether he could’ve done anything differently, although he was careful to keep those thoughts to himself for the time being. Tales of weddings and children being born. Tales of Fairy Tail moving forward in the way that only their guild could, and in a way that was just as painful because it was a reminder that he hadn’t been there. That he hadn’t fought with them, mourned with them, recovered with them.

_I missed so much…_

**

   A slightly awkward silence had fallen after the healer had taken her leave, with stern instructions for the Dragon-slayer to remain on bed-rest for a few more days at least, and Gajeel was just casting around for something to say when he tensed. There were footsteps in the hallway, and he straightened slightly as he caught Levy’s scent, relief washing over him that she had kept her word to come back and he opened his mouth to greet her as the door swung open, only to find the words dying on his lips at the sight that met his eyes. Levy was stood in the doorway holding a toddler tightly in her arms, and just behind her, he could glimpse Lucy. A paler, quieter Lucy than he remembered although considering what she had lost it was unsurprising, holding another toddler. But what really gave him pause was the shade of their hair, he knew that shade. He loved that blue, and there were tears in his eyes as he looked at Levy.

“Are those…?” Was this what he had missed? Was this why Lily had avoided his questions? Not wanting to tell him that he had lost her in a different way than he had ever imagined.

“Our children,” she replied softly, and for a moment all he heard was white noise. _I lost her. I lost her,_ but then he blinked as her words registered, eyes widening as he stared at her for a moment, unable to see any trace of a lie in her face and slowly his gaze drifted to the children, jolting as he realised the toddler in her arms. A girl he could see now had turned towards him, his breath catching as he stared at her. He could see Levy in her hair and eyes, but there was something else, something that he knew must’ve come from him and hope blossomed in his stomach.

“Our…?”

“You said you wanted a family,” her voice was soft, tears on her cheeks even as her lips curled in a sweet smile as she moved towards him. His voice wouldn’t work, and he could only watch with wide-eyes as she reached him and he felt oddly numb as she settled on the bed beside him, his gaze now fixated on the toddler in her arms, before his eyes shifted to the toddler Lucy was holding. “I told you that you missed a lot,” Levy teased softly as she nudged him gently, and he froze as he realised that she was holding out her daughter. Their daughter for him to take.

“I…”

“Gajeel,” Levy cut across him gently, reaching out to brush her fingers against his arm, realising that he was trembling and carefully she helped guide his arms up so that he was holding their daughter, smiling at the wide-eyed expression on his face. “Say hello to your family.”

   How many times had she imagined this moment? However, none of her imaginings had come close to the warmth that was currently blossoming in her chest as she watched him carefully pulling their daughter closer, cradling her like she was the most precious thing in the world. Turning she took her son from Lucy, offering the blonde a grateful smile when Lucy whispered a quiet farewell before hurrying away, leaving the small family, because Lily couldn’t be seen as anything but, alone and she turned back just in time to see the incredulous, beautiful smile that passed across her mate’s face, a single tear coursing down his cheek as he lifted his head to look at her, swallowing as he studied their son for a moment before managing to get his voice to work.

“What are they called…?”

“Shutora…” Levy replied softly, reaching out to brush her daughter’s hair, before smiling down as their son protested the movement. “And this is Yajeh…” She paused for a moment, before lifting her head to meet his gaze. “Shutora and Yajeh Redfox.”

“I…”

 _I missed this. I missed your pregnancy? I missed their birth…their first birthday…their first steps…so much_.

   There were tears in his eyes as he realised just how much he had missed, but then his gaze drifted to the fresh scar on his chest. He had missed all that, but because of the incredible woman now pressed against his side, he had the chance to experience everything else that lay ahead of them. He had meant it when he had told her that he had only begun to imagine this kind of future because of her, and he swallowed thickly, glancing down at Shutora with a soft, beguiled smile. “They’re perfect…” Everything he had ever imagined or dared dream about, and yet so much more and his breath had caught as he lifted his head once more to look at Levy, blown away by the blinding smile on her lips and the warmth in her eyes and he found himself leaning forward to capture her lips in a gentle kiss. “Thank you…”

_Thank you for loving me, for rescuing me, and for giving me this future…_


End file.
